The present invention relates to cleaning apparatus for rollers found in feeding system, for paper. More specifically, the present invention relates to cleaning anti-offset agents that can contaminate rollers, such as feed rollers and retard rollers, when feeding systems are used for glossy paper.
Feeder systems, such as paper feeders, can be found in a variety of mechanical systems. For example, feeders are often used in photocopiers, fax machines, computer printers, printing presses, and mail handlers. A specific example of a sheet feeder is the F350 manufactured by Pitney Bowes Inc. (Shelton, Conn.). The primary purpose of these feeders is to take a stack of paper (or other types of stackable media), separate one sheet from the balance of the stack, and apply the separated sheet to another mechanical device. The feeder has to be flexible enough to handle a variety of types of paper. For example, the paper may be of mixed sizes such as letter-size, legal size, or A4 size. The paper may also be of a variety of weights depending on the percentage of cotton used therein. Furthermore, these papers may be covered by different coatings and inks.
From time to time, the rollers may become contaminated with dust or dirt. This causes the rollers to lose their efficacy and misfeeds or multifeeds result. A mechanical cleaner can be used to clean, the rollers. For example, in the F350, the cleaning apparatus is a block of urethane elastomer with lateral slots cut into it to form a series of elastomericblades which contact the roller.
Increasingly used today are papers having a glossy coating. This type of paper is often used in lithography and flexography. Ink may smear or offset, because the glossy coatings on these papers have slower drying times. To solve this problem, the printer treats the paper with anti-offset agents such as anti-offset spray, a finely dispersed powder of calcium carbonate, starch, or sugar. These anti-offset agents prevent the freshly printed image from transferring to adjacent sheets when stacked at the output of the printing machines. Although these powders and sprays enhance the printing process, they cause problems when the printed glossy sheets of paper are subsequently fed through a feeder apparatus. This is because the anti-offset agents lift off the paper and contaminate the individual components of the feeder. As with dust and dirt, these agents will cause, for example, two or more sheets to be fed through the feeder instead of a single sheet due to contamination of the feeder""s retard element. Another problem is that the glossy sheet will not feed through the feeder at all due to contamination of the feed roller.
The cleaning apparatus of the F350, although effective for dust and dirt, is ineffective to remove anti-offset agents because there is not enough abrasion between the soft elastomeric blades and the roller.
One current solution to the anti-offset agent build-up problem includes shutting down the feeder system and manually cleaning the components. This adds extra physical labor from an operator as well as a time delay in the operation of the feeder. Another solution is to attach a separate cleaning apparatus to the feeder when the feeder is not in operation. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,843,436 which teaches the use of a separate feed roll cleaner to clean the feeder system when the feeder system is not in operation. Although this solution does not require extensive physical labor, the runtime of the feeder system is reduced if it has to be periodically shut down in order to be cleaned.
Thus, a need exists for a cleaning apparatus that can continuously clean the feeder system without the need for the feeder system to be shut down. Moreover, there is need for a cleaning apparatus that minimizes the need for human intervention in the cleaning of the feeding apparatus.
In one aspect, the present invention features a cleaning apparatus for a feeder system having a chassis and roller. The apparatus includes a blade contact force component; a blade responsive to the blade contact force component, the blade having an edge locatable against the roller by a contact force applied by the contact force component; and a supporting arm having a fixture end and a mounted end. The fixture end of the supporting arm is attached to the cleaning blade and the mounted end is connected to the chassis of the feeder system. In one embodiment, the contact force applied by the blade contact force component can range from about 0.01 to about 0.13 N/mm.
In another aspect, the present invention features a cleaning apparatus with a cleaning head having abrasive particles affixed thereto and in contact with the roller and a supporting arm having a fixture end and a mounted end, the fixture end attached to the cleaning head and the mounted end connected to the chassis of the feeder system. In one embodiment, the cleaning head is a mesh. The mesh can be an abrasive open screen from about 100 to about 200 grit. In another embodiment the cleaning apparatus further comprises a force component interposed between the support arm and the chassis of the feeder system from about 0.01 to about 0.13 N/mm.
In another aspect, the present invention features a cleaning apparatus that includes a cleaning head contact force component, a cleaning head having abrasive particles affixed thereto, and a supporting arm having a fixture end and a mounted end, the fixture end attached to the cleaning head and the mounted end connected to the chassis of the feeder system. The cleaning head has a side locatable against the roller applied by the cleaning head contact force component.
In yet another aspect, the present invention features cleaning apparatus specifically for use with a system that feeds sheets of glossy paper.